This invention relates to a machine used in the manufacture of hollow fiber dialyzers of the type used in artificial kidney systems.
Artificial kidney systems include dialyzers or membrane diffusion devices through which blood from a patient flows for treatment. One type of dialyzer is known as a hollow-fiber dialyzer.
A hollow-fiber dialyzer includes an elongated, and generally-cylindrically-shaped casing within which many very-fine, hollow and semipermeable fibers are positioned and secured adjacent their terminal ends to the casing. Blood from the patient flows through the dialyzer inside the fibers. Dialysis solution flows through the dialyzer and surrounds and contacts the fibers so as to receive bodily waste products from the blood and remove them from the dialyzer.
The fibers are made from a long hollow filament of cellophane or of a cellulose derivative, such as sold under the trade name Cuprophan. The filament is continuous and is supplied on a spool.
In manufacturing the dialyzer it is impractical to individually cut the filament into individual fibers, group or bunch the fibers, and then assemble the dialyzer. One suggested process for bunching the fibers is to form the filament into a hank by winding the filament on a wheel, grasping the wound filaments at two points and removing the hank from the wheel. The hank is then pulled into a cylindrical casing. In this form the filament is still continuous and after further preparation the looped ends of the hank are cut so as to form the open-ended fibers. As can be appreciated, only one device can be made from each hank.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for use in preparing the fiber bundles which is suitable for use in the mass production of hollow fiber dialyzers.
In other winding systems the filament is wound on a support which support ultimately becomes part of the device. Unfortunately, in the dialyzer the support is an inactive element which occupies space and thereby reduces the efficiency of the device.
It is thus another object to provide a winding machine wherein the winding support does not become a part of the dialyzer.
This and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims.